Author Identifier (ORCID)
Oscar Serrano
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5973-0046
Paul Lavery
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5162-273X
Pere Masque
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1789-320X
Miguel Mateo
Abstract
Calcium carbonates (CaCO 3 ) often accumulate in mangrove and seagrass sediments. As CaCO 3 production emits CO 2 , there is concern that this may partially offset the role of Blue Carbon ecosystems as CO 2 sinks through the burial of organic carbon (C org ). A global collection of data on inorganic carbon burial rates (C inorg , 12% of CaCO 3 mass) revealed global rates of 0.8 TgC inorg yr −1 and 15–62 TgC inorg yr −1 in mangrove and seagrass ecosystems, respectively. In seagrass, CaCO 3 burial may correspond to an offset of 30% of the net CO 2 sequestration. However, a mass balance assessment highlights that the C inorg burial is mainly supported by inputs from adjacent ecosystems rather than by local calcification, and that Blue Carbon ecosystems are sites of net CaCO 3 dissolution. Hence, CaCO 3 burial in Blue Carbon ecosystems contribute to seabed elevation and therefore buffers sea-level rise, without undermining their role as CO 2 sinks. © 2019, The Author(s).
Keywords
Carbon, burial, mangrove, seagrass
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of Publication
1-1-2019
Publication Title
Nature communications
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
School
School of Science / Centre for Marine Ecosystems Research
RAS ID
29564
Grant Number
ARC Number : LE170100219, ARC Number : DE170101524
Grant Link
http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/LE170100219 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DE170101524
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Comments
Saderne, V., Geraldi, N. R., Macreadie, P. I., Maher, D. T., Middelburg, J. J., Serrano, O., ... & Fourqurean, J. W. (2019). Role of carbonate burial in Blue Carbon budgets. Nature communications, 10(1), 1106. Available here